A Day In The Park Gone Wrong
by Celestial Dragon in flight
Summary: Sequal to Birthday Breakfast. The family's trip to the park takes a surprising turn shortly after Dib sees something strange.
1. Chapter 1

This is the sequal to Birthday Breakfast.

I do not own any characters from JTHM or Invader Zim. They all belong to Jhonen Vasquez

**A Day in The Park**

Chapter1

I was sitting at my easel, painting the stress of my first week of seventh grade away. This was how I was going to spend my day: just me, my thoughts, my paint set and a piece of canvas. At least, that was the plan.

That was changed at about eleven A.M., when my door opened behind me and a young voice stated "Momma wants us in the living room, right now."

I sighed and turned to face my little brother. "Alright, I'll be down in a minute. And Dib, next time, please knock on my door before coming in, Okay?"

He nodded and rushed back into the hallway.

I changed out of my messy painting clothes and into a long sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans before heading downstairs. It was probably too warm to dress like this but I couldn't let Mom see the bruises from the beating I took on Thursday. She would be at the school by Monday, demanding the principal find better ways to monitor his students. Of course, he wouldn't do a thing about it. Word would spread around the school and I would have more kids bullying me, not just for being skinny, but also for being a snitch. Besides, I like solving my own problems. I'll think of some way to get back at those jerks.

"What were you saying, Nny?" Dib asked as I was entering the living room.

"Nothing." Shoot. I thought I'd broken the habit of thinking out loud.

A few minutes later, Mom came out of the lab, Dad following closely behind her. He didn't look happy to be distracted from his work. He stood behind the couch, where Dib and I now sat, with his arms crossed.

Mom stood in front of the couch and made sure she had all of our attention. Then she said, "I've decided that we're all going to go to the park today." A chorus of complaints met this statement but it was clear that she wasn't listening to them. "We're going and that's final. We don't spend enough quality time together and the weather outside is perfect for a picnic."

"But Dear, I'm trying to create a cure for…" His words trailed off as he saw the look on Mom's face. She had been having terrible mood swings since she had gotten pregnant again, and was already angry with him for skipping her birthday.

So we all started getting ready to go. Within an hour, we were all in the car and heading for the park in the center of the city.


	2. Chapter 2

**A Day in the Park**

Chapter 2

I leaned against a tree, keeping an eye on Dib, who was searching the bushes for bugs, lizards and fairies. Dad had told me to watch him while he and Mom set up a picnic table where we could eat our lunch.

I wish they'd brought a tarp so that we could eat on the ground. Those tables look at least fifty years old, the boards are all half rotted, they're covered in bird poop on top and their bottom surfaces have collected the gum from every person who's ever sat on them.

Suddenly, there was crying coming from down the path that ran along the picnicking field. Some kid was showing his mother an empty ice cream cone and she was scolding him, saying he didn't need any more.

Dib ran over to me, a shocked look on his face "Did you see that?"

"See what?" I asked, curious what had gotten him worked up so fast.

"That tree just came to life and ate that kid's strawberry ice cream."

"Dib, trees don't move."

"How could you miss it?"

I glanced back toward the child and then all around the field, looking for a way to distract Dib, so that he wouldn't try to investigate any further. Knowing him, he might have really seen something. Finally, my gaze rested on the picnic table where Dad and Mom were signaling that everything was prepared. I felt a wave of relief rush over me as I said "Come on; looks like lunch is ready."

We came over to the picnic table where we sat side by side across from our parents.

As we ate, Dib kept glancing at the spot where the child had been; Every once in a while, I would also glance at the tree in question.

Two more incidents occurred. The first was a man complaining about his sandwich disappearing and the second was a woman tripping over a tree root that hadn't been in the path before.

No matter how hard mom tried, she couldn't get a long conversation going. While Dib and I watched the trail, Dad had picked up his cell phone for an "important call". It turned out to be a long one and there was no telling when he'd be finished.

Finally, we finished eating and Mom decided to chat with us for a while. She sat down in the grass with us and talked. We discussed how things had changed since Mom was my age, how Dib had looked last Halloween in his little bat costume, how my latest paintings had been darker themed than usual and a large number of other topics that would just randomly come to mind.

About half an hour into our conversation, Dad snaps his cellphone shut, comes over and asks "How are you feeling Sarah."

Mom turned her head up toward him and said "Fine, why do you ask."

"Are you up to going for a walk, just you and I? There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

"Can't it wait until later?"

"I won't have room in the schedule for later."

Mom looked back at me, sighed and then asked , "could you watch your brother for a few minutes?"

I didn't want her to go but the look on dad's face made it clear that something important had come up. After a couple moments, I nodded.

Mom got to her feet. Then she and Dad walked along the path around a bend and out of sight.


	3. Chapter 3

**A Day in the Park**

Chapter 3

Dib's P.O.V.

As I sat with Mom and Nny, I kept glancing at the tree.

It hadn't done anything in a while, but that didn't mean it wouldn't act again. I had to do something before it stole someone else's food or tripped another person or did something worse but I couldn't do anything with mommy, daddy and Johnny watching me like hawks.

Well, maybe not Daddy.

Then, Dad and Mom decided to go for a walk. They started toward the path, in the exact opposite direction of the tree and Nny was just watching them go.

I knew this was my chance. No one was watching me. So I silently stood up walked away. On my way to the tree, I passed a man cutting some bushes along the side of the path. He looked at me for a moment and then went back to trimming the bushes.

As I got closer, I was able to make out some details about the tree. It soon became clear that it wasn't really a tree at all. What I had thought was a trunk was actually two long legs with big feet. The creature had a big muscular body with a tail, two arms and a neck that were held up like tree branches. On the neck was a head that reminded me of a seahorse. Branches sprouted out at random places all over its body, all with their own twigs and huge leaves at the end.

As I ran up to the thing, it focused an orange eye on me but otherwise remained still.

I stopped a few feet away from the tree-thing. Looking at how big it was, a new thought struck me. What was I going to do? I didn't even know what this thing was. What could I possibly do to stop it? I suddenly felt really stupid.

I could hear my name being called from somewhere back in the field. Maybe I could just go back to Nny. We could forget about this whole mess and just have a normal day in the park.

I took one last look at the tree and was about to walk away when it looked me in the eye. I took a step back, tripped and fell to the ground. I looked up to see a huge twiggy hand reaching toward me and screamed.

* * *

Johnny's P.O.V.

After Dad and Mom got out of sight, I turned back toward Dib, only to find that he wasn't there.

Where is he? "Dib!" I cried out as I scanned the field. I saw a man paying Frisbee with his dog, a group of teenagers smoking, a man trimming some bushes and families eating at the nasty tables but no Dib. "Dib, where are you?"

Just then, a scream pierced the air. I turned to see Dib being held in the left hand of a tree monster. All the other people also saw it. They, too, started screaming and panicking. Parents were grabbing up their children, people were running every which way, dogs were barking and birds squawked as they were flying off into the blue sky.

As all these things were occurring, I launched myself toward Dib, moving as fast as my legs would allow. My mind was working at full speed, trying to come up with a plan to save my little brother.

Then my eyes fell on the shears the man cutting the bushes had dropped when he fled. I grabbed them up and slipped them into my pocket as I ran by.

The tree monster's leaves had unfolded into large green fans, which started to move in a motion that lifted it off the ground. There were only a few yards between me and its huge foot now but soon it would be out of my reach.

"Help!" I glance at Dib who is trapped in the palm of the monster's hand. Then I jumped, knowing that if I didn't, he'd be gone forever.

For that moment, time seemed to slow down. I could see every notch and discoloration on the monster's foot and every bead of sweat on my outstretched hands. I felt the wind swirl around my body and hear my heart beat in my ears. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Then I had a grip on the foot. Both of my arms had a grip on its ankle, but my legs still dangled. I swung them forward and clamped onto either side of the bottom of the tree monster's foot.

I repositioned myself so that I was on top of the foot. Then I looked down. No more than ten feet below me is the roof of a skyscraper. looking back in the distance, I could still see the park but it's a good thirty blocks away and forty stories down. I could see the people below going on with their daily lives. Some walked, others ran but no one seemed to be looking up or screaming. There were no police cars zooming toward our location. No helicopters were flying out to recue us or shoot this thing out of the sky. It was as if they hadn't seen anything unusual. Could it be possible that they didn't see us up here? How could they miss a flying tree? What's wrong with these people?

The limb I was holding onto suddenly shifted forward and bent at the Knee. Then a group of large, brown, twiggy fingers slid between my belly and the foot, to which I gripped for dear life. Soon I was being pulled away from it. After a few seconds, I was tugged off.

In the process, the shears fell from my pocket. So much for my weapon.

I feared that it would release me, to let me follow the tool down to the cement streets below, but as the seconds and then minutes passed, I remained where I was. Once my head had cleared enough to think straight I remembered why I was up here in the first place. I tried to position myself so that I could see Dib but I was being held so that I faced away from him and could only see the cityscape below.

Now that my adrenalin rush had worn off, I became aware of how uncomfortable I was. First of all, I realized that it was freezing up here. I also felt some pain along my ribs, where the tree monster had gripped me when it pulled me off of its foot. I was pretty sure I had a cracked a rib or two.

I tried to make myself as comfortable as possible while I was being carried off to who knows where by a flying tree.

* * *

Dib's P.O.V.

I stared off into the distance far ahead, routinely stopping to wipe my eyes, which teared up because the wind constantly blew into my face. We were flying over some houses and heading to the hills just outside of town. The sun was about a third of the way down from the highest point in the sky. There was a blue bird flying a short distance away. It was a nice view.

I looked toward Nny. I couldn't see much more than his feet, sticking out of the leafy hand that held him but I was glad to see he was still there.

I had about a thousand questions running through my head. What is this thing? How can it fly? Why was it in the park? Why had it taken us? Where are we going? What's gonna happen to us?

A shiver ran through me. Whether the cold wind or my own fear caused it, I didn't know.

As I looked back, we were flying closer to the ground. We went around to the back of the first hill. At the bottom of it, there was a large cave. We hovered in front of the cave and then the tree creature landed.

Its leaves folded in on themselves and the creature plodded into the dark cave, still holding on to us as it did so.


	4. Chapter 4

**A Day in the Park**

Chapter 4

Johnny's P.O.V.

As the tree monster carried us into the cave, I wondered what was about to happen. We were at it's mercy and we were about to be submerged in complete darkness. To say I was scared would be the understatement of the century.

As the sunlight faded away, I became aware of another light source coming from within the cave itself. It came from around the bend at the far end of a dark tunnel. The intensity of the light shifted constantly but never disappeared.

Our captor was walking toward it. When it reached the bend, it's movements came to an abrupt halt. Then, to my amazement, I was lowered gently to the ground and the grip around my body was released. I quickly pushed myself to my feet and was rewarded with a twinge of pain from my entire left side. I turned back to the tree creature in time to see it opening it's other hand, which was now palm up on the ground, releasing its other captive.

For a moment, Dib just sat and stared, then, seeming to finally comprehend that the creature's hand no longer caged him, he got up and ran as fast as he could to me. As I knelt down, with more complaints from my side, and wrapped my arms around him, he buried his face in my shirt and started sobbing. I could feel him trembling against me. The whole time, I never took my eyes off the thing that had put us in such a state of sheer terror.

In the dim half-light coming from behind me, the monster looked like a formless mass. It hadn't moved since standing back up after letting go of us. If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought it was some sort of rock formation. Behind it, I could see the pinprick of light from the entrance of the cave, a good ten or fifteen minute walking distance away.

Then, I realized I should be trying to get away from here, away from that thing. I'd come back and find this entrance again later if I had to. The tree monster couldn't stay here forever, could it?

Ignoring the pain in my side, I picked up the still trembling form of my little brother and slowly backed away, heading toward the bend that the flickering light came from. Not once did the tree creature make a move to stop me. When I got around the bend and out of its line of sight, I leaned against the wall, put Dib back on the ground and let out a sigh of relief.

Then the gears in my head started to turn. What was that thing? Why did it bring us here? Where is here anyway? Why did it just let us go? My mind just kept cranking out questions that I could think of no possible answer for.

I looked down at Dib, who had stopped crying but was still shaking. He just stood and stared at me, waiting to see what I'd do.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

The only response I got was whimpering. I knelt down, got at eye level with him and said, "Look, if we're going to get through this, we need to be able to think calmly and clearly. So, you need to take a deep breath and calm down."

After a moment Dib followed my instructions; it took him a few moments but he finally stopped shivering.

"Now, I need you to tell me if you are hurt anywhere."

He shook his head.

"Do you think you can walk?"

I saw him nod in the dim light.

"Well then, how about we go find out where this lights coming from, maybe it's a way out."

I took his sweaty hand in mine and we walked toward the light. There was a hole at the other side of the cavern that we were in where the light shone brightly. As we made our way toward it, I saw that the light was shifting not only in intensity but in color as well. White, blue, pink and purple lights randomly overlapped each other.

Then we were standing at the edge of the hole. Before us was a vast, high ceilinged cavern that extended far back beyond what I could see. For the length of about half a football field there was gently sloping rocks that led down to the surface of a lake which extended back into the darkness. The rocks were covered with a dimly glowing green moss. There were stalactites hanging from the ceiling, dripping water onto the stalagmites below them, making a sound that echoed off all the walls.

All throughout the cavern there were what looked like little orbs of light swirling and twirling through the air. Some were the size of a balled up fist while others were little more than pinpricks of light. They were all different colors, blue, white, purple and red and even as I watched a few of them switched from one color to another or changed in size. Whereever their light hit the walls or the water, mirror surfaces refracted and reflected it, creating a light display like no other.

"Wow." Dib and I both said at the same time.

I wonder what they are? I thought to myself.

"Night Wisps." Dib stated, making me realise that I had once again spoken my thoughts out loud. I didn't think about this fact for long because my attention was drawn back to the scene before me.

For a moment, all I could think about was what an incredible painting I could create in here. I snapped back to reality when Dib let go of my hand and started wandering down the hill.

I quickly grabbed his shoulder and said "Hey! Where do you think your going."

"I wanna get a closer look."

"Well, I don't want you rushing off. Keep in mind that if you hadn't done so earlier, we would probably be home by now. Instead, we're trapped in a wet cave with a giant tree monster, these night wisps and who knows what else."

At those words Dib fell silent. He looked around and then at me with a sad expression on his face. Then he finally spoke up. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that this'd happen. I was gonna stop the tree and help people."

"And what about that promise you made about telling me before you go chasing after anything?"

"I didn't think…"

"That's right, you didn't think. That's the problem, right there."

As I had been scolding Dib, the night wisps had taken notice of us. As silence fell between us, I realized that we had an audience. Most of them had wandered over to us, although none of them seemed to want to close in the last few yards to reach us. The few that didn't come to us were now travelling above the lake, zooming over distant waters until the darkness seemed to swallow them up. Where are they off to in such a rush?

Dib's P.O.V.

We started walking down the hill and close to the lakeshore.

After travelling a short distance, we sat down on a patch of ground that wasn't covered in moss. The only sounds that penetrated the thick silence were the sounds of dripping as water fell from the ceiling and of running water somewhere off in the distance. The night wisps continued to hover a close by, they now surrounded us on all sides.

As we sat there, I wondered how we were going to get out of here. Finally, when I couldn't stand the quiet any longer, I asked "What're we gonna do now?"

" No idea. I don't see any exits around here. All we can probably do is wait until that tree thing goes away."

"What if it doesn't."

"I'm sure we'll figure something out."

I turned my gaze out toward the water and saw that the night wisps that had left earlier were coming back. At least I think it's the same ones. They were moving in a small, closely-knit group. There couldn't have been more than ten out there. The water underneath them seemed to give off a weird glow too but maybe that's just their reflection. I couldn't really tell; looking through the light of the closer, larger group made it hard to see anything off in the distance.

Maybe they were making it hard to see on purpose.

"Nny?"

"What?"

"Look at the water. Those night wisps are coming back."

Johnny, who had been staring at his shoes with hand cupped under his chin and a look he often wears when he's deep in thought, glanced up at the water.

The night wisps were clearly closer now and I could see that whatever was causing the water to glow was under the surface.

Before he had a chance to say anything, I asked, "What do you think they're up to?"

"I don't know," He said as he glanced back at me, "But I don't feel like sticking around to find out."

"Me neither."

Johnny's P.O.V.

I moved to pick Dib up but found that my side hurt too much to do so. Changing strategies, I quickly grabbed his hand and turned toward the entrance that we came from. With my injuries, I was moving so slowly that Dib was able to keep pace with me easily.

We didn't make it far though because once the other, closer night wisps realized where we were heading, they started changing size and color so fast that they created blinding flashes of light, effectively blinding us. I winced and Dib screamed.

I blindly tripped over a rock, letting go of Dib's hand in the process. I couldn't see him, so I started feeling around and calling out to him. By the time I found Dib and gotten my vision back, the travelling night wisps had reached the shore. The ones that had been surrounding us had all become small white dots. They moved away from us, leaving a large semi circle of space, one which opened up toward the lake.

As we watched, the wisps which had traveled across the lake quickly dispersed, joining the rest of the group. Then something started to crawl out of the water.


	5. Chapter 5

**A Day In The Park**

**Chapter 5**

Johnny's P.O.V.

The creature rose slowly; It's long, slender form slithered out of the water and coiled up on the shore. It seemed an eternity until the spine ridden tail finally came into sight.

The being before us had no arms or legs. It had many plates of armor running along its back, with two gem inserts on each plate, one on each side of the body. Each gem constantly emitted a soft blue glow. The head had an elongated snout, full of sharp teeth. Behind two large pointed ears were two pairs of horns. A blue ring of light, similar to the glow of the gems, came out of its forehead.

My gaze was met by two large, green, catlike eyes, which were ten feet above my own head.

Then the creature opened its mouth. It roared so loudly that the cave seemed to shake.

Dib clutched my leg as I bent down and hugged him Quickly. Whether it was to comfort him or myself, I wasn't sure.

I became aware of a stomping sound that came from the direction of the tunnel we had come from but I was too focused on the thing in front of me to pay much attention to it.

Said thing was now looking toward the source of the noise. When it opened its mouth again I expected another roar but instead, it did something that I would never have expected. "Bracken. What is the meaning of this? Why did you bring me these hatchlings? I thought I made it clear how important it was that you did what you were supposed to." The voice was feminine but snakelike, clearly full of a deep anger.

Dib pulled on my shirt to get my attention. When I looked down he caught my glance and then looked toward the exit, off beyond the night wisps. I followed his gaze and saw, standing at the entrance, was the tree monster that had brought us here. So it had a name.

"You said to bring the first being to see me and the one that followed it. These are them. I followed your directions to the letter," Bracken responded.

Suddenly I felt a rush of hot air across the back of my neck. I felt a shiver run down my body despite its heat. "So, this is the one?" the serpent asked curiously once it had finished examining me.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Dib, who had just managed to find his voice.

"No" Bracken answered as if he hadn't spoken at all. "The little one was the first to see me. The older one came to its aid."

"Do you realize what your saying?! We are looking for the person who will determine the fate of countless lives and you bring me a baby."

"Hey!" Dib yelled, genuinely offended.

Once again they ignore him. "Humans mature quickly. It'll be..."

"Shut Up!" As silence fell, I realized that the angry voice that had made the command was my own. "Now you listen here, we've just been kidnapped, dragged across town, brought to a strange place and scared out of our wits. Now on top of all that," I gasped as my side gave a twinge of pain but continued "you're going to talk about us like we're not even here. No! You have no right! Now, we want to know what's going on and, more importantly, we want to go home." I stood there panting. Damn, my ribs were hurting.

For a moment, everyone just stared at me.

Dib was the one to break the silence. "The sooner, the better. Our mom and dad are probably getting really worried and Nny's hurt."

How could he tell?

The snake thing looked at me and asked, "Is he?" She even sounded like she really was concerned.

"yeah, on his left side."

She leaned in and examined me closely. Then the ring on her forehead started to glow brighter and she tapped me just below the chest.

Instead of the horrible pain I was expecting, the aches that were already there had disappeared. I moved my arms around, seeing if I could find it. Nope. It was gone.

"Consider it my apology." The being stated.

"How'd you do that," I asked.

"Magic." She stated bluntly. "Now, I think it's time I gave you the explanation you deserve."


	6. Chapter 6

**A Day in The Park**

**Chapter 6**

Dib's P.O.V.

As she spoke, the reptile brought her head at eye level with Nny, and then glanced at me.

"Now," she began, "before I begin, the first thing you must grasp is that all the assumptions humans have made about the world are illusions created to make them feel better about themselves. The universe consists of many places, a large number of them have life. Many of those creatures can think about and do things which you could ever fully grasp."

"This place is proof enough of that," Nny stated quickly.

After a moment the creature continued. "Now, amongst my species, the Cave Wyrms, as we age, we get the gems that you see running across my back. Toward the end of our lives, when we have gems on every plate, they generate a private vision. No one knows what it is but the one who receives it and those that the person tells. We get one and only one."

She paused for a moment, took a deep breath, twitched her tail and continued, "I received mine about a decade ago. It wasn't clear, the future never is, but it was about a being that must lead a struggle for an important balance. Without him, it will be lost. The only problem is that not only during this struggle but also in a time period of ten to fifteen years beforehand, the being will face many challenges. The chances of survival are almost nil."

"In the vision, I also sensed a chance to meet the being before his troubles began. I had to send Bracken to the park today because it would be the only shot I get to warn him and one of his allies. We knew only one person would investigate Bracken if he caused mischief and that the other person, who will also play and important role, would come when he was grabbed." She looked at me again and added, "thus, you two were brought here for this warning."

Wow. I was going to be a hero. Cool!

Nny clearly didn't think it was neat. He looked furious and only confirmed how ticked off he was with what he said next. "Are you insane?! We're only children and if what you say is true, then this great warrior will be between the ages of twelve and seventeen. He gestured toward me, "my little brother won't even hurt a fly. Even if this vision is true, you must have the wrong people."

She glared at him and said, "Well, I guess you'll find out in the next couple weeks. The threats on the life of the hero from my vision begin very soon." Then she turned her head away. "Now, I think it's time for you to go. Your parents are probably worried sick about you."

"What about you?" I asked, "what are you going to do?"

" I'm old and tired. I've done my part. So, now, I'm going to go to the bottom of the lake and go into a deep sleep." As she said this, her tail went still on the ground and her head drooped.

"Wow! You can sleep under water. How?" Maybe she had gills under her scales.

She looked at Bracken, whom had remained silent throughout her speech. He was just staring at us. As she looked at him, she asked, "Will you drop them off next to a police station? It'll be safer than taking them back to the park, now that the sun has set.

"Of course."

I glanced at Nny, who stood next to me. If he was feeling anything, he hid it well. Then I looked back at the Wyrm standing before me. "Will we see you again?"

" No but you'll have my support from where ever I am," she responded cryptically.

"Thanks."

After that, she looked around to all the night wisps and then at bracken and said "Goodbye old friends. I'm off to my deep slumber." After saying this, she slithered into the water and out of sight.

Bracken stepped behind us and put his hands on the ground together, palms up.

I thought for sure that Nny would refuse to step in but to my shock, he picked me up and sat down on the hands with me in his lap. He looked up at the tree creature and said, "just be more gentle with us, okay. I don't want to get hurt again."

Then we were carried back toward the cave entrance.

Jonny's P.O.V.

As we walked into the police station, I couldn't help but think about what had just happened. Whether she was insane or not, she had made it clear that she had devoted the last years of her life to getting that message to us. It a frightening thing to think about.

As I continued to muse about the afternoons events, a police cop approached us. "Can we help you?"

"Yeah." Dib said, "We're lost and we wanna go home."

At this statement, we were passed off to an operator, who, after getting our home address and our parents cell-phone numbers, called our dad. About forty-five minutes later, our parents identified us and had the police take us off the missing persons list.

As we drove home, I created a bogus story of how we had cleared the picnic area when the commotion started. I said that had brought Dib along with me and we had both gotten lost. Although Mom and Dad both bought it, Dib gave me a confused glance as he sat next to me. Even so, he didn't say anything about it, even as the car pulled into our driveway.

That night, before he went to bed, Dib came into my room. He looked at me for a moment and then asked, "Why didn't you tell them?"

"Adults don't believe in that type of stuff. They would have thought I was lying."

"But you never lie."

I looked at him for a moment, thinking about what I should say. Then I started in with, "Dib, as you get older, you'll find that most people won't believe certain things without proof. This is one of those things."

"Our parents aren't like most people."

"They are in this way."

At this statement the younger boy glared at me and then ran out into the hall and disappeared from view after turning toward the direction of Mom and Dad's room. A few minutes later, he came back in, looking as if he was on the verge of tears as he stared at the floor. "You were right. They didn't believe me. Dad told me that things like that don't exist and mom said it was a nice story and I should make more like it."

Next thing I knew, he had his arms around my legs. I patted him on the head and said, "It's okay. We know it happened and our memories are proof enough for us."

After a moment, he let go of me and looked at the drawing I had just made on a piece of canvas, which now rested on my easel. "It's the cave," He stated in surprise.

"Yeah." I responded, "Do you like it so far?"

He looked at the picture of the wyrm curled up in the middle of the semicircle of night wisps for a moment, nodded and asked, "could you show me what it looks like when it's done?"

"Sure but, for now, I think Mom told you to go to bed a few minutes ago, didn't she?"

Dib turned to me with a smile and asked, "how was your first week back at school?"

I choked down a laugh and just barely hid my smile as I said, "bed. Now."

Just before he left, Dib turned back to me and said, "Goodnight, Nny."

"Good night, Dib." Then the boy closed the door behind him, leaving me to begin painting my newest piece.


End file.
